It’s not the prettiest race car, but since the Porsche 944 Turbo Cup was a landmark series, I wanted to build this car despite its, um, unique, paint scheme. Trying to find historic information on why someone wanted to paint a car white with pink splotches, then cover with gold ticker tape and Egyptian hieroglyphics was a quest.The model was a little easier to decipher.

Hasagawa packs 111 pieces onto six sprues, four generic slicks staggered front to rear, retaining poly caps, photo-etched seatbelt anchors, adjusters and a buckle, vinyl to cut into seatbelts, and two sizes of black rubber hose to detail the engine.

Yes, that’s right, this Hasagawa kit includes a fairly well detailed engine.

Several parts are chrome-plated, and despite the satin finish, I opted to spray it with Model Master aluminum plate buffing metalizer paint. I found it showed a much duller finish than the plating presented. Color callouts list suggestions for GSI Creos Aqueous Hobby Color and Mr. Color paints. I used primarily Model Master and Tamiya equivalents.

Construction begins with the engine’s 17 plastic parts and four pieces of rubber hose. It went together well, but I ended up removing and reinstalling the intake manifold as my first attempt wouldn’t allow the rubber air inlet hose to properly route below the air box.

Connecting the crossover pipe from the exhaust manifold to the turbo was fiddly, but I managed to get it to fit and align with the rest of the exhaust system.

The 944’s suspension has 17 parts, making a reasonable representation of the car’s chassis. A belly pan covers most of the engine’s bottom and front suspension, but it builds into a sturdy posable steering system. The rear-mounted transaxle is molded as part of the floor, but once the rear suspension and exhaust system are installed, it all looks pretty good.

The all-black, platform style interior hides much of the molded detail. The seatbelts were the only disappointment. This was my second attempt using Hasagawa’s seatbelt material, and it didn’t go any better. I already knew super glue didn’t hold well, so I tried a few other solvents. Both methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), used to secure styrene joints, or lacquer thinner had no effect.

Instead, I cut strips of blue painter’s tape. This worked well. it’s self-adhesive and I had no trouble threading the tape through the buckles and adjusters.

When preparing for paint, make all of the modifications called out in the instructions as it appears a street version was available at one time. Scrape off the side moldings from the doors and turbo badge from the hatch, fill the scribing for the sunroof, and plug license plate holes.

Once painted (Tamiya Racing White) spray, you have more than 100 decals to apply, including a few under the hood and inside. Microscale Micro Sol settled the decals over any curves.

The pink splotches have to go on first (apply the decals in numerical order and you should do fine). I used Tamiya pink to touch up spots where the decals tore. I let each layer dry before moving on to the next. Next, I applied the gold ticker tape, then the hieroglyphics, and finally the sponsor decals, which I varied a bit.But installing the chassis to the body went fairly well.

After placing the rear of the chassis into the notch on the back bumper, I squeezed the nose of the car together to create clearance for the intercooler and radiator to fit past the bottom of the front bumper and lower fascia. Although this paint scheme wouldn’t be my fist choice, this is a well-engineered kit that went together with few issues. Adding some wiring and plumbing to the engine bay would make for a standout model, and it could always be built as a privateer racer.